


a lighthouse in the storm

by tempest_in_the_storm



Series: the time that we had lost [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, KroliaKeithBondingTime, Spoilers, Visions, past and future, season six
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 05:46:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14948697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempest_in_the_storm/pseuds/tempest_in_the_storm
Summary: A mother learns who picked up her child when all others had left him behind.





	a lighthouse in the storm

The first one came while Keith was asleep, curled up away from the fire with Yorak nestled against his back.

It was a short vision, mundane and muted as if was being viewed through a tunnel. Immediately, she knew it was not hers. White, lit halls filled with young humans dressed in orange uniforms solidified around her. Krolia rose to her feet, the hum of the chattering of the younglings rolling over her like a dull buzz as she scanned the faces, looking for the face of her son. She didn't know how old he would be, but she knew she would be able to recognize her kit's face no matter where in the universe he was.

She spotted the taller man first, so much like her husband that the resemblance had her heart turning glass, fragile and prone to shatter at any moment. His hair was dark, and his figure cut sharp and intimidating. But his expression was warm, directed to the one walking beside him- It was ridiculous really, her reaction to seeing her son in an illusion of the past. She had seen him in previous ones, all heart wrenching and painful to witness. But this was the oldest she had ever seen him in these dreamlike hallucinations, perhaps only a few human years than he was now.

He was cold, closed off as he looked up at the other human. Like the whole world might turn on him at a moment's notice, and he would have to fight his way out of that hallway tooth and nail.

This is what her abandonment of him had done. This was the damage it had left on her kit. Alone. Guarded. Afraid to love. She had not blamed him from the moment she revealed to him who she was; not the distrust, and betrayal and hurt flaring in his gaze as he fought down his turmoil to focus on the mission, or the hesitance to push for anything to make up for the void she had left for the entirety of his life. She blamed herself. Again and again.

 

* * *

 

 

The second one came more distorted- multiple scenes meshed together in a collage of memories. They all include the dark haired man. They flashed by like shooting stars, almost too fast to fully register, but gradually they began to slow. The ground seemed to shudder beneath her, as the world once again came into focus. 

"-all of them." A young voice spoke. They were in a bathroom, the dim lighting flickering overhead. It was Keith, young again, with a bleeding palm and ruffled hair, and the dark haired man again, a first-aid beside him as he crouched in front of her son, wiping the wound with an antiseptic cloth.

"I'm never going to leave you." The dark haired man promised as he wrapped Keith's hand in a bandage. 

"You can't promise that." Keith's young voice said bitterly, too full of pain for his age. The man only looked at him sadly, silent as he too knew that promises like that could never be kept. 

"Than I promise I will never give up on you." He replied gently, resting a large hand on Keith's small, bandaged one. Keith's head shot up.

"Why?" He whispered, the word the only sound in that silent house. Like it was an impossibility, inconceivable. To have someone believe in him. Krolia held her breath as she watched the other man, whose jaw seemed to set in determination. As if he too, had heard and understood that hopelessness in her son's voice, that abandonment was inevitable for everyone in his life. 

"Because too many people have." His words were steel and Keith stiffened in shock. "And I refuse to be just another number in the mass that has continually tossed aside a kid with the potential to be great like he was nothing."

Keith trembled, eyes growing glassy and wide as he stared at the man. The man nodded, and opened his arms, face so full of warmth Krolia felt like she was amidst the heart of a radiant star.

The vision faded away right as Keith tipped forward with a quiet sob, shaking with the force of his tears, right into the man's arms that closed around him and held him close.

 

The sound of rain filled her senses again, and she was back, sitting in the cave, next to her son and his wolf, the crackling of the fire drowned out behind them. Her son was staring out into the distance, at nothing. He was huddled, knees drawn close and shoulders hunched. Beside him, Yorak sat loyally, a silent support to her son as the thrumming of the vision faded out of their heads.

She bit her lip, the question dying away. Instead she sat patiently by her son, staring out at the rain. He was a lot like her in respect- when she was younger- that some topics could not be breached immediately. So she waited.

"His name is Shiro." Her son's voice was hoarse, as if he too had been crying. She could not fight the instinct to inch closer to him. A small part of her was delighted that he did not flinch away, instead leaning unconsciously closer. Keith seemed to be struggling for words, expression conflicted, brows furrowed like his father's whenever she had tried to explain her technology to him.

"He reminds me of your father." She offered. This extracted a silent exhale resembling a laugh. 

"In a way, he kind of was- like a father." He cleared his throat, still not turning to look at her, fixated on some unknown spot in the distance. "He was the one, the one who pretty much r-raised me after... " He trailed off, swallowing hard. "... when I went to a home." And that was an entire other topic that she wanted but could not approach right now. "But he was always more like a brother-like figure to me." At this he seemed to laugh, a small muted thing that had her heart swelling three sizes. It was like hers. Well one of her laughs anyways. 

She made an interested sound in the back of her throat, and finally, Keith glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. 

"He tried his best to keep me out of trouble," She snorted. "Teased me, supported me, and taught me all he could." His face grew fond. "He was the first one really, to think I could be something, to see something in me that no one else could." Keith looked down. "I owe him a lot and I don't think I'll ever be able to repay him for all of it." 

Krolia took a deep breath, leaning forward and pulling her son close. He tensed in surprise, before slowly melting in her arms. Like a young kit always does with their parents.

"You're not the only one who owes him." A flicker of confusion had barely crossed his face before she continued. "I have much to be grateful for to the man who raised my son, when neither his father or mother were there for him." She closed her eyes, the words catching in her throat as she spoke them. Some debts are too great to ever fully repay, but we can all only try, nonetheless." She met her son's gaze.

"You are going to be great, Keith. Shiro saw it. And maybe he was only the first but he will not be the last. All you can do is try to make him proud." She paused. It shocked her that her body was not trembling with the strength of her emotions. After all, somehow, some way, her son had made it off a planet that had never even traveled past their solar system, all the way across the universe and somehow manage to find her again.

"I don't doubt he ever won't be."  _Or myself._

**Author's Note:**

> You have no idea how much joy it brought me every time to type "her son".


End file.
